Process of drying sheet material.



O. MINTON.

PROCESS OF DRYING SHEET MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 6, 1914.

1,147,30 Patented July 27, 1915.

| llliill l I i WITH/88158 I INL/EIVTOR 1% BY 4 V %-%MK OGDEN MINTON, OFBROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

PROCES F DRYING SHEET MATERIAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 27, 1915..

Application filed October 6, 1914. Serial No. 865,248.

. To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OGDEN MIN'roN, a citizen of the United States,andresident of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York,(whose post-office address is 186 Washington Park, Brooklyn, New York,)have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of DryingSheet Material, of which the following is a specification, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, which forms a part of thesame. I

My invention relates to drying sheet material and more particularly to amethod of drying said material continuously.

My invention further relates more particularly to a method of dryingandfinishing paper, though it is equally adapted for drying any sheetmaterial as, for example, cotton or other fabric which may be moistenedin bleaching or dye vats.

It is particularly adapted for use in the art of paper making, whereinthe sheet or web of wet paper after being treated by my improved method,can be immediately wound into rolls of finished paper whether or not theweb or sheet comes directly fi'om the wet end of the paper machine orfram a sizing vat.

In the present state of the art it is customary to take the paper fromthe wet end of the paper machine and after passing it through squeezerollers, to get out as much moisture as possible, pass it around or overone or more steam drums, frequently as many as thirty such drums beingused, to dry it. After the paper has been thus dried it usually, in themanufacture of high grade paper, continues through a vat of animal sizeand is then cut into sheets and stacked. A number of these sheets,usually about 20, are placed upon poles and taken to drying lofts whichare heated to about 120 F. where the paper is allowed to dry slowlyusually taking about forty-eight hours. Moreover in high grade paper,great care has to be exercised not to overheat it"which would injure itsquality.

By my improved method I greatly reduce the time necessary to finish thepaper, and avoid the cutting and hanging of the paper, and the delay offorty-eight hours in the drymg lofts, besides the necessary handling andliability to damage in taking it to and from these drying lofts.Moreover by my improved method the paper is completely finished so thatit can be immediately wound into rolls of finished paper. 4

I have shown in the drawings by way of illustration several forms ofapparatus whereby my method may be carried out, but of course it is tobe understood that my method is not to be confined to any particularform of apparatus.

In the accompanying drawing I have .shown by way of example three forlmsof apparatus.

Figure 1 is a vertical section through one form .of drying vat; Fig. 2is a vertical section through another form of drying Vat, and showinganother manner of heating it; Fig. 3 is a vertical section through stillanother form of drying vat illustrating another form of heater.

In the drawing 1, Fig. 1, is a vat having a steam coil 2 and ispreferably provided with one or more submerging rollers 3, 3. In thisvat 1 I place a suitable medium which will have no deleterious effectupon the web of sheet paper 4 which is fed from the wet end of the papermachine (not shown) over the guide roll 5 and into the vat 1 beneath thesubmerging rollers 3, 3, and out at the other end of the vat over theguide roll 6 to be immediately rolled into rolls of finished paper; or,to passthrough a sizing vat, in which case, it would be again dried inthe same manner as shown in Fig. 1 and then immediately rolled intorolls of finished paper. In the first case, where no size is used, therewould simply be one drying vat. In thelsecond case where the paper issized there would be two such drying vats, the second one operating uponthe web of paper after it emerges from the sizing vat. It is thereforeclear that my invention relates either to the web or sheet of wet papercoming immediately from the Wet end of theapaper machine or from thesizing vat. When I refer to a sheet of paper coming from the papermachine I mean either a sheet which has come directly from the wet endof the paper machine without being sized, or one which has been driedand then subsequently sized usually with animal size. The medium which Ihave found has no deleterious effect upon the web or sheet of paper andwhich will permit the paper being dried while in the vat is mercury 7,the level of which is preferably at 8. It is to be understood of coursethat while I preferably use mercury that any other suitable medium whichwill accomplish the same result comes within the terms of my invention.This mercury is heatedto the necessary temperature by steam passingthrough the steam coils 2, the temperature being sufiicient to drive offall moisture in the web or sheet of paper 4, while it is within themercury, the moisture bubbling up as steam and passing into theatmosphere.

In Fig. 2, I have shown a vat 9 in which is mounted a submerging roller10 over which passes the web or sheet 11 after passing around guiderolls 12 and then emerging out of the mercury 7 and passing over theguide roller 13. In this form of apparatus the vat 9 is heated by aBunsen burner 14, the gas being fed through the pipe 15.

Various other means may be used to heat the drying vat. For example thedrying vat 16, Fig. 3, may be heated by a furnace 17 having a grate 18,feed door 19 and chimney 20. In this form the web or sheet 21 is fedeither directly from the wet end of the paper machine, or from thesizing vat all as previously mentioned, overthe guide roll 22, under thesubmerging roller 23, over the guide rollers 24, 24, under thesubmerging roller 25 and out over the guide roller 26, to be immediatelyrolled into rolls of finished paper, or, fed through a sizing vat inwhich case, the paper would pass to a second drying vat such asdescribed. In this form the mercury 27 is brought up to the propertemperature to vaporize the moisture in the sheet or web which moistureis driven off into the atmosphere.

In all forms the paper is subjected to a smoothing, ironing or finishingeffect of the mercury, which is the medium which I preferably employ.

It is clear that when my improved process is used, particularly in themanufacture of paper, that the period to make the complete product ismaterially shortened, and many steps now necessary are avoided, with theconsequent economy in the cost of manufacture, besides obtaining asuperior product.

Having thus described my invention in consisting 1. The process ofdrying sheet material consisting in passing it through a liquid bath ofa medium which has no deleterious effect on the sheet material, andwhich is heated to a temperature suflicient to evaporate the moisture inthe sheet material.

2. The process of drying sheet material in a continuous web consistingin passing it continuously through a liquid bath of a medium which hasno deleterious effect on the sheet material, and which is heated to atemperature sufficient to evaporate the moisture in the sheet material.

3. The process of drying sheet material consisting in passing it througha bath of mercury which is heated to a temperature sufficient toevaporate the moisture in the sheet material.

4. The process of drying sheet material in passing it continuouslythrough a bath of a non-volatile medium, of suflicient density to havean ironing effect on the sheet material while in the bath, said bathbeing heated to a temperature sufficient to evaporate the moisture inthe sheet material.

5. In the art of paper making the process of taking the wet sheet ofpaper as it comes from the wet end of the paper machine or from thesizing vat and passing it through a liquid bath of a medium which has nodeleterious effect on the paper, and which is heated to a temperature toevaporate the moisture in the paper yet sufficiently low not to injurethe paper.

6. Inthe art of paper making the process of taking the wet web of paperas it comes from the wet end of the paper machine or from the sizing vatand passing it continuously through a liquid bath of a .medium which hasno deleterious effect on the paper, and which is heated to a temperatureto evaporate the moisture in the paper yet sufiiciently low not toinjure the paper.

7. In the art of paper making the process of taking the wet web of paperas it comes from the wet end of the paper machine or from the sizing vatand passing it through a bath of a nonvolatile medium which has nodeleterious effect on the paper, and which is heated to'a temperature toevaporate the moisture in the paper yet sufficiently low not to injurethe paper.

8. In the art of paper making the process of taking the wet web of paperas it comes from the wet end of the paper machine or from the sizing vatand passing it through a perature sufficient to evaporate the moisturein the paper but not sufficiently high to inheated to a temperaturesufficient to evapojure the paper. rate the moisture in the paper butnot sufli- 9. In'the art of paper making the process ciently high t6injure the paper. of taking the wet Web of paper as it comes OGDENMINTON; 5 from the Wet end cf the paper machine or Witnesses: from thesizing vet and passing it continu- LOUIsA LOEHR, ously through at bathof mercury which is ALAN M. JOHNSON.

